PRODUCTION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF BLUE BIOCOLORANTS FROM FILAMENTOUS FUNGI

• Grant number: 24/02207-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: August 01, 2024
• End date: July 31, 2028
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Food Science and Technology - Food Science
• Principal Investigator: Juliano Lemos Bicas
• Grantee: Simone Aparecida de Lima Scaramussa
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Engenharia de Alimentos (FEA). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Natural biocolorants have gained great notoriety in recent years due to the emerging trend of consumers looking for products containing more natural, environmentally friendly and sustainable ingredients and additives, as well as because these colorants are often associated with health promotion, since many of these compounds are attributed to various biological activities of interest. Thus, there has been a growing demand for alternative natural colorants that are stable and safe from a toxicological point of view, especially those with bluish tones, because they are scarce in nature and because they have limited options of these colorants that are stable under processing conditions. In this context, some microorganisms that produce blue pigments have been investigated by our research group, such as the extremophile fungus Antarctomyces pellizariae, isolated from the snow on the Antarctic Peninsula, which produces a blue pigment that has not yet been identified in low temperature conditions and in specific culture media. It is believed that this may be new molecule(s) with chemical and biological properties of interest. In addition, previous studies by the group identified that the fungal biomass of Fusarium oxysporum containing the red pigment bikaverin, can be converted into a bluish biomass after heat treatments. However, the mechanism of color change is also under investigation. Therefore, this project aims to advance with the elucidation studies of the chemical structures of the unknown bluish compounds, as well as to evaluate the biological activities of both pigments, and to evaluate the stability of the blue pigment of A. pellizariae under different process and environmental conditions.

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

ISHIMOTO, CAROLINE KIE; LIMA, RODOLFO DANTAS; SCARAMUSSA, SIMONE APARECIDA DE LIMA; FILL, TAICIA PACHECO; OLIVEIRA, VALERIA MAIA; BICAS, JULIANO LEMOS. Improving the medium composition for the production of the natural blue-violet pigment violacein by a new Janthinobacterium sp. isolate. Letters in Applied Microbiology, v. 77, n. 10, p. 8-pg., 2024-10-08. (22/02992-0, 23/06147-5, 24/02207-6)